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Item Detection and management of lameness in dairy cattle in New Zealand and Tanzania : a thesis submitted in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy in Veterinary Science at Massey University Te Kunenga Ki Pūrehuroa, University of New Zealand, School of Veterinary Science, Manawatu(Massey University, 2022) Werema, Chacha WamburaAlongside mastitis and infertility, lameness is one of the key animal health challenges on dairy farms. Lameness is particularly challenging due to the complex nature of its aetiopathogenesis and its multiple risk factors. Early detection combined with effective treatment, management and prevention are integral approaches to reducing the impact of lameness on dairy farms, improving productivity, and enhancing animal health and welfare. This thesis focused on improving detection and improved management. Visual locomotion scoring (LS) is currently the most widely used system for detecting lameness worldwide but has attributes that limit its usefulness and application. The first part of this thesis presents three studies looking at alternatives to LS: infrared thermography (IRT) and in-parlour scoring (IPS). IRT was compared to LS in both New Zealand and Tanzania, while IPS was tested in New Zealand alone. Both IRT and IPS proved to be useful alternatives to LS, but further research on more farms across more countries is required before they can replace LS for lameness detection on dairy farms. The second part of the thesis evaluates the response to a three timepoint regime of prophylactic hoof trimming (dry-off, early lactation, and end of lactation) on; 1) lameness incidence and time from calving to increased locomotion score, and 2) the distance from the external claw sole surface to the distal phalanx (DDP), and how this relates to lameness risk. On the study farm, prophylactic hoof trimming did not decrease lameness incidence or time to clinical lameness (locomotion scores ≥2). However, it did increase the interval from calving to an observable change in gait (locomotion scores ≥1). In regard to DDP, the study showed that DDP was not affected by trimming and that changes in DDP did not affect the hazard of increased locomotion score, i.e. either locomotion scores ≥1 or locomotion scores ≥2. Keywords: lameness; locomotion scoring; infrared thermography; in-parlour scoring; prophylactic hoof trimming; dairy cattle; pasture-based system; tropicalItem Hardware and software development towards lameness detection of cattle : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Engineering in Mechatronics at Massey University, Manawatu, New Zealand.(Massey University, 2015) Nel, JohannA platform comprising four individual sections has been designed and built to determine a dairy cow’s weight, hooves’ position, the duration each hoof is on the section, and the stride length. The developed hardware and software is geared towards building a complete system to detect lameness in cattle, the ultimate aim of the project. Each section is an independent unit and consists of four ASB1000 shearbeam load cells, an AD7193 which is a 24-bit sigma-delta analogue-to-digital converter (ADC), and an ATmega328 microcontroller. The AD7193 ADC communicates with the microcontroller via the serial peripheral interface (SPI). Because each section contains its own microcontroller, an Arduino Mega 2560 has been used as the master microcontroller. This handles communication between the computer and all the sections. The master and sections communicate on a RS-485 half-duplex bus. The load cell values are transmitted from the master microcontroller to the computer via serial communication. The individual load cell value is then recorded and further processed where the data can be plotted, and the cow’s average weight, stride length, hooves’ position and duration can be calculated. The user also has the ability to render the data to a video file and to split cow data. Laboratory testing was conducted to find the accuracy of the sections using a laser cut jig and a 20kg point load calibration weight. It was found that the X-position mean error is 1.0 ± 2.2mm, the Y-position mean error is 0.8± 1.8mm, and the total weight on the section has a maximum error of 0.4%. The mainframe to which the sections bolt to is 3000mm long and 540mm wide, while the individual sections measure 650mm long by 500mm wide. When the platform is assembled, the platform is 100mm high and has a walking surface width of 400mm. The platform sections are adjustable between the ranges of 700 ± 50mm to find the optimal stride length. The platform has been galvanized for protection against the elements. Experimental field testing was conducted at Massey Dairy Farm Number 1 where the signal signatures of 60 cows were recorded for further analysis. The recorded data was used as the basis for all the software tools that were developed; more field testing would be required to make the software more robust to different cow behaviours to see whether cow’s weight, hoof position, duration of each hoof and stride length can be successfully and accurately calculated.Item The prevalence of lameness on New Zealand dairy farms : a comparison of farmer perception and mobility scoring : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Veterinary Studies, Institute of Veterinary, Animal and Biomedical Sciences, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2012) Fabian, JessicaSeveral studies have compared the prevalence of lameness as perceived by farmers with the prevalence of lameness assessed using locomotion or mobility scoring. However all of these studies have been undertaken in housed cows; cows at pasture have not been studied. This study was designed to identify the difference between farmer perception of lameness and that identified by mobility scoring under New Zealand conditions in cows kept at pasture. Data were collected from 60 herds, 27 in the South Island and 33 in the North Island. All farms were visited on one occasion at the expected peak time for lameness, i.e. October/November for North Island farms and January / February for South Island farms. Data were collected via a questionnaire which included details on farm size, productivity and reproduction as well as general health. The latter included a farmer estimate of the number of lame cows which were currently on-farm. Whole herd mobility scoring, using the DairyCo 0 – 3 scale, was then used to estimate herd lameness prevalence. In the North Island, average herd size was 294 and average production was 357 kgMS/cow/year, while in the South Island the figures were 580 and 406 kgMS/cow/year, respectively. Of the 60 farms, lame cows were treated by farm staff only on 38 farms, by a combination of veterinarian and farm staff on 21 farms, and on one farm by veterinarians only. On average, farmers estimated that 2.2% of their herd was lame (range 0 to 20%), while mobility scoring identified that, on average, 8.1% of the herd was lame (mobility score =2) (range 1.2 to 36%). This means that on a herd basis, only 27.3 % (range 0 to 95%) of the cows with reduced mobility had been identified as lame by farm staff. There was no significant effect on herd size on this percentage (P=0.8), nor was there a significant differences between the two islands (South Island 28% ± SEM 4.2; North Island 23% ± 2.6). The prevalence of lameness in this study was much lower than that reported in housed cattle, but the percentage of cows with reduced mobility recognised as lame was very similar, even though in pasture-based cattle, farmers spend more time watching cows walk (to and from milking). This study shows that there is significant room for improvement in the detection of lameness on New Zealand farms, and suggests that routine mobility scoring, particularly at critical periods, could be a valuable tool for identifying lame cows.Item The epidemiology and control of lameness in pasture-fed dairy cattle : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirement for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University(Massey University, 1992) Tranter, William PatrickA series of studies was conducted on lameness in dairy cattle in New Zealand. All cases of lameness that occurred in three dairy herds over a 12-month period were studied to establish the types of lesions that commonly result in lameness, and to monitor the recovery process. While line disease (39%), traumatic pododermatitis or sole bruising (42%) and septic pododermatitis or sole abscess (9%) were the most common lesions. There was a close association between the onset of lameness and time since calving, regardless of season of calving. Lameness was associated with wet weather conditions. Total lactation yields of the lame cows were significantly less than matched herd-mates of similar age and calving date. A longitudinal study of the feet of cows from a spring calving dairy herd with a low incidence of lameness (2% over 12 months) was conducted over a 12 month period to measure the occurrence of subclinical hoof lesions. Sole haemorrhage, erosion of the heel bulb and minor white line separation were the most commonly observed lesions. Waves of each type of lesion affected different digits and passed through the herd at specific times of the year and breeding season. Methods were developed for assessing physical hoof properties such as hardness, moisture content, elastic modulus, compressive strength, resilience and sole concavity. A series of epidemiological studies was conducted to determine to what extent these properties varied between digits on different cows, between digits on the same cow, with changes in environmental moisture conditions, and with changes in husbandry over the course of a dairy herd's production year. There was a clear tendency for hoof moisture to vary in concert with various measures of environmental moisture and for the other physical hoof properties measured to be affected by hoof moisture content. Hoof growth and wear studies were also conducted on both autumn- and spring-calving cows. Rates of hoof wall growth were lower in autumn and winter than during spring and summer and were greater in 2-year-olds than in mature cows. Both wall wear and sole wear were greater in lateral digits than in medial digits. Lateral digits almost always had less sole concavity than medial digits. Cows suffered a rapid and substantial loss of sole concavity following calving regardless of season of calving. Lame digits tended to have less sole concavity than non-lame digits, providing some evidence that lack of sole concavity is causally associated with occurrence of lameness. The effect of two different surface hoof treatments (daily formalin footbathing and bimonthly Hoof Bond application) on hoof characteristics and occurrence of lameness was examined. Both treatments failed to prevent lameness, reduce the incidence of subclinical hoof lesions or substantially alter hoof moisture, hardness or sole concavity changes. A tentative hypothesis is proposed to explain the well recognised association between lameness onset and rainfall. Mechanisms involved in the development of common claw lesions in pasture-fed cattle are discussedItem Monitoring liveweight to optimise health and productivity in pasture[-]fed dairy herds : a dissertation presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy at Massey University(Massey University, 2011) Alawneh, IbrahimTechnological advances now make it possible to continuously record and monitor a range of outcomes on dairy farms including individual cow milk yields, environmental temperature and rainfall. These facilities enhance the ability of herd managers to recognise deviations from what is accepted as normal, prompting timely corrective intervention. The objective of this thesis is to demonstrate how liveweights recorded using walkover weighing (WoW) technology can provide information that can be used to better-manage a range of activities on dairy farms, particularly reproduction and herd health. Analysis of daily WoW recorded over the first 100 days of lactation have shown that the standard deviation of daily LW measurements across parities was 17 kg on average. A near perfect association between liveweights measured statically and WoWs (concordance correlation coefficient 0.99, 95% CI 0.99 to 1.0) was observed. After controlling for the effect of liveweight at calving and long term liveweight change using a mixed-effects linear regression model, the autocorrelation between WoWs recorded on successive days was 0.21, decaying to zero by eight days. This study showed that by using a standalone automatic WoW system positioned in the exit race of a rotary milking parlour, it was possible to record LWs of individual cows on a daily basis and, with controlled cow flow over the weighing platform (allowing for sufficient succession distance to prevent congestion), results were similar to those recorded using conventional, static weighing techniques. Two observational studies were conducted to investigate the relationships between LW, LWchange ( LW) and clinical lameness. In the first study, LW loss in the first 50 days in milk increased the risk of a lameness event being diagnosed after 50 days in milk by a factor of 1.80 (95% CI 1.00 to 3.17). The risk of lameness was greatest for high yielding cows that lost excessive LW (risk ratio 4.36, 95% CI 4.21 to 8.19). The second study quantified LW immediately before and after the diagnosis of lameness events. For lame cows, liveweight decreased up to three weeks before the date of diagnosis and for up to four weeks after. The total liveweight loss arising from a single lameness episode was, on average, 61 kg (95% CI 47 to 74 kg). The results of this study show how liveweight records for individual animals can be used to enhance a herd manager’s ability to detect lame cows and present them for treatment. Prompt detection and treatment of lame cows presents an opportunity to shorten recovery times, with positive follow-on effects in terms of animal welfare. LW was assessed as a means for enahancing the sensitivity and specificity of oestrus detection. The sensitivity and specificity of detecting true oestrus events using LW combined with tail paint and visual observation was 0.86 and 0.94, respectively. The effect of LW in the first four weeks after calving ( LWlong) and LW change around the time of the Planned Start of Mating ( LWshort) on the time taken for cows to conceive relative to the Planned Start of Mating was quantified. Planned Start of Mating to conception intervals were influenced by LW change during both of these periods, though LWshort had a greater effect compared with LWlong. The findings of this study better define the impact of long- and short-term liveweight change on reproductive performance, providing the opportunity to design feeding programmes in pasture fed dairy herds that have positive effects on fertility. The studies presented in this thesis contribute knowledge to the role of LWmonitoring as a tool to better-manage seasonally calving, pasture fed dairy herds. While ‘traditional’ usage of walkover scales on dairy farms has involved the recording of LWand LWchange as a means for monitoring and adapting changes to the herd feeding program, the studies presented here have shown how LW records have the potential to provide information that can be used to better manage a range of herd level activities, particularly those related to reproductive management and health.Item Lameness of dairy cattle : factors affecting the mechanical properties, haemorrhage levels, growth and wear rates of bovine claw horn : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements of a doctoral degree in Animal Science, Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2009) Lethbridge, Louise AnneLameness is one of the main economic and welfare issues faced by the global dairy industry. It mainly affects the hind claws and the main causes / types are; claw horn lesions of the sole and white line (WL), along with foot rot (NZ) and digital dermatitis (UK). This thesis aims to apply and develop mechanical tests to determine the effect of dietary supplements, animal breed and number of days postpartum (dpp) on claw horn (CH) mechanical properties. Supplementation with live yeast (UK) significantly increased the puncture resistance (PR) of sole horn (P<0.05), level of mean sole haemorrhage percentage, total combined lesion score (TLS) and wear rates (P<0.10), while increasing daily mean milk yield, total milk fat and protein without significant increases in feed intake, providing an increase in feed conversion efficiency. In growing (NZ) dairy cattle PR was lower in 1, 2 (WL) compared with sole (4 and 5) while zones 4 and 5 did not differ significantly. Dairy breed (NZ) affected the PR of the CH, significantly (P<0.001) lower PR in CH of Friesian (all 5 IFM regions) compared with Friesian X Jersey (FxJ). Lactating dairy heifers (partition 22 to 24 months) from 0 to 160 d pp showed that the breed did not significantly affect the; number, percentage or TLS of sole or WL lesions, with the exception of 160 dpp where Friesian heifers had significantly (P<0.05) higher WL and sole lesions compared with FxJ. Mechanical properties (PR) of CH, declined significantly with increasing number of days post partum (dpp), while EM was significantly stiffer at 30 d pp compared with 120 dpp. PR was reduced significantly by increasing lesion score (LS), but was not confirmed by Vickers hardness and EM results. Hydration of CH significantly lowered EM compared to dried horn or horn at physiological moisture content. Short term (200 d), neither the form (zinc as salt or complexes with yeast) not level of zinc (At 1.0 or at 0.3 of NRC recommended levels (RL)) did not significantly affect; locomotion score; growth and wear rates; claw measurements and sole and WL lesions were not significantly effected by form or level of supplemental zinc up to 150 d pp. Overall, the number of days pp (dpp) significantly increased the level of sole and WL lesions, and reduced CH PR and elastic modulus (EM).Item The effect of breed and crossbreeding on the incidence of recorded lameness in the New Zealand dairy cattle : a thesis presented in partial fulfilment of the requirements for the degree of Master of Science in Animal Science at Massey University, Palmerston North, New Zealand(Massey University, 2011) Chawala, Aluna RaphaelThe objective of this study was to estimate genetic parameters and breed and crossbreeding effects on incidence of recorded clinical lameness (RCL) in New Zealand dairy cattle. Herd records from 76,357 cows distributed in 155 herds dedicated to the Livestock Improvement Corporation (LIC) sire-proving scheme during the 2005 to 2009 milking seasons were used to estimate the phenotypic, additive genetic, permanent environmental and residual variances of RCL in Holstein-Friesian (F), Jersey (J) and crossbred (FxJ) dairy cattle. RCL incident was coded “1” for cows that had at least one event of RCL at any day during lactation and a “0” code was used for cows without a RCL incidence. Genetic parameters and crossbreeding effects on RCL were estimated with a repeatability animal model, across breeds using restricted maximum likelihood methodology. The predicted mean incidence of RCL per herd was 7.74% with a range of 2% to 34%. Heritability estimate for the incidence of RCL for all lactations (1st to 10th lactation) was 0.016 ± 0.003 (± SE) and the repeatability was 0.071 ± 0.005. The heritability estimate of RCL using only first lactation records was 0.05 ± 0.01 (± SE). Jersey cows had a lower mean (± SE) incidence of RCL than F cattle (J: 6.67 ± 1.50%; JxF: 6.89 ± 1.50%; F: 8.83 ± 1.50%). The effect of first cross (F1) FxJ crossbred was -1.2 ± 0.3% (± SE), representing a mean 16% reduction in RCL compared to an average of the parental pure breed J and F cattle. There was considerable variation (-5 to 8%) between sire estimated breeding values for RCL, suggesting that sire selection across breed and within breed could result in increased genetic resistance to RCL in New Zealand dairy cattle. A significant (P<0.05) reduction in mean (± SD) milk solid yield per day was found in cows with RCL (1.40± 0.0012 kg) compared to cows without RCL (1.43± 0.0045 kg). Cattle in first lactation had a significantly higher incidence of RCL than cows in subsequent lactations (7.6 ± 0.1%, 4.6 ± 0.1%, 5.2 ± 0.1%, 6.3 ± 0.1% and 7.0 ± 0.2% (± SE) for first, second, third, fourth and fifth lactations, respectively). These results suggest that selection for resistance to lameness will result in a low rate of genetic gain but using Jersey sires can be an alternative to increase genetic resistance to lameness in New Zealand dairy cattle.